Fence post



Dec. 5,1944. BARNES 2,364,419

FENCE POST Filed May 6, 1943 IHVEHTOR, 5124 C. Barnes,

:1 Manama,

Attorney,

Patented Dec. 5,1944

Elza C. Barnes, Attica, Ind.

Continuation of application .Serial No. 428,431, January 27, 1942. This application May 6, 1943,

Serial No. 485.845

1 claim; (01. 256-58) This application is a continuation of applicant's pending application, Serial No. 428,431, filed January 2'7, 1942, now to be abandoned.

This invention relates to a fence post of the -metal type having a plurality of tongues extending from the fence side of the post. The gist of the invention resides in the arrangement of the tongues on the fence post wherein there is a pair of tongues for each fence wire, one tongue laterally spaced from the other tongue along the wire with one tongue turned downwardly and the other tongue turned upwardly, and this arrangement of tongues in each pair reversed for each alternate wire of the fence whereby the alternate pair has the corresponding tongues therein reversed in direction.

The arrangement of the tongues in this manner makes a locking system on the post without use of any additional fastening elements and without bending the tongues or deforming them in any manner. The invention provides a structure which securely holds each individual gfence wire in line and position on the post without any twisting or kinking of the line wires, and at the A further advantage. of the invention resides in the fact that by reason of the arrangement of the tongues on the post, there is no tendency to pull the post in either direction along the fence so that the post will remain in its vertical position as originally driven into the ground. Each and every line wire ofthe fence remains under the tension as originally produced upon stretching the fence so that no one wire may have a different tension between one post and the next post than another wire, and further, by

reason of the manner of attachment of the various line wires to a single post, no one wire is secured to that post with any ,g'reater degree of tightness than another wire.

Furthermore, the invention permits easy and quick erection of the fence and attachment to the various posts therealong without any elabcrate tools or the like, and in addition, permits easy and quick removal of the fence from the post without any damage being done to either the post or the fence, permitting reuse again of both the posts andthe fence. This is of prime importance, particularly under present war time conditions when fence wire is not available and change in location of fencing is required on farms to meet important seasonal conditions.

These and many other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those versed in the art in the following description of one particular form as illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a view in front perspective of a post embodying the invention;

Fig. 2, a view in front elevation ofthe upper portion of a post embodying the invention and illustrating the application of a fence thereto; and

Fig. 3, a view in section on the line 3-3 in Fig. 2.

Like characters of reference indicate like parts in the several views in the drawing.

Any type of metal post may be employed providing it has means for carrying tongues in laterally spaced apart relation on its fence, side. In

the present showing a T-type post, generally designated by the numeral I0, is illustrated,

tongues l4 and !5. In the present form of the invention, these tongues I 4 and I5 are formed by punching and bending them from marginal portions of the face section H of the post. The tongue I6 is secured by its upper end to the face part of the post and slopes downwardly and for wardly therefrom while the tongue i5 is secured by its lower end to slope outwardly and upwardly from the face ll. As indicated, these tongues are generally rectangular in shape and are preferably provided with non-pointed outer ends.

Spaced downwardly from this pair of tongues l4 and 5 a distance equal to the desired spacing between the top wire, herein shown in the present instance as a barbed wire l6, and the next lower wire of the fence, shown as the top line wire I! of a woven wire fence, is a second pair of tongues I8 and I9. In this pair, the tongue l8 on the left-hand side of the post in vertical alignment with the tongue I4, is turned outwardly and upwardly, and the other tongue I9 in horizontal alignment therewith 1S turned downwardly and outwardly, this being the opposite arrangement from that of the corresponding tongues l4 and IS in the next upper air.

p In like manner, pairs of tongues 20-2 I, 23-23, 24-25, 26-21, 28-29, 30-1, and 32-33, are provided along the post spaced apart in accordance with the spacings of the line wires of the fence, it being customary to have a closer spacing of these wires near the base of the fence. The number of pairs of these tongues will be suificient in any event to take care of the highest fence desired for the particular length of post employed. It is to be kept in mind that each pair of tongues has the tongues therein turned in opposite directions in relation to the next tongues aligned therebelow.

The invention is particularly adapted for use in conjunction with the universally employed woven wire fences. Referring to Fig. 2, after the woven wire fence, generally designated by the numeral 35, has been attached to an end post (not shown) and stretched, it is initially hung on the individual line posts, one such line post in being indicated in Fig. 2. The top line wire I! is hung over the upwardly extending tongue l8; the next line wire 34 is hung over the tongue 2| and in like manner the various line wires are hung over the upturned tongues throughout the length of the post. Then in order to complete the securing of the fence to the post, any suitable sort of a tool, such as a screw driver, a flat bar, or even a round bar 36 as indicated in Fig. 2, is inserted under the straight edge of the tongue i9 and over the top of the line wire I1 to pull the wire I! down and allow it to snap back under the tongue IS. The lengths and outwardly extending angles of slopes of the tongues l8 and H! are made to be such that the line wire I! is permitted to extend on across the post l over the tongue I8 and under the tongue IS in firm contact therewith but without kinking or bending of the wire. The line wiresof the fence '35 are initially provided with bends or kinks 31 to allow for contraction of those wires in cold weather, and these kinks are not straightened out when the line wires are interengalged between the tongues on the post so that the line wires are still free to contract and expand in the usual intended'manner. In the showing of Fig. 2, these kinks happen to fall between the horizontally disposed tongues of the post l0, but they may come at any position along the line wires in reference to the post In. In like manner, each of the line wires of the fence 35 are interengaged between the downwardly turned tongues of each of the various pairs until all of the line wires of the fence are thus secured behind the tongues, one tongue being turned downwardly and the other tongue being turned upwardly in each pair over the respective line wire, with the tongues turned in opposite directions from the next adjacent line wire.

This opposite turning of the tongues is of extreme importance, as above indicated. For example, referring to the two uppermost line wires I1 and 34 of the fence 9!, the upper wire I! bears downwardly against the flat surface of the tongue Hi to have line contact thereacross while the wire 34 bears along the flat surface of the upturned tongue 2| on the right-hand edge of the post Ill. By reason of the interconnecting stay wires 38 and 39 between the two line wires l1 and 34, the line wire 34 is held in engagement under the tongue 20 by the wire 38 and the wire I1 is held upwardly under the tongue l9 by the wire 39.-

In other words, disengagement from the tongues is tended to be prevented by reason of the cooperation of the vertical stay wires of the fence itself.

Where it is desired to change the location of the fence from one field to another, the same instrument, such as the rod 36, may be engaged under the outer straight edge of a tongue and carried over or under the corresponding line wires as the case may be, to pry that line wire out from under the selected tongue until the line wires are all removed from the series of tongues turned in one corresponding direction. Then the fence may be lifted out of the other set of tongues to free the post from engagement with the fence. This is of particular advantage when one or more posts only may want to be removed or replaced. The entire fence may be loosened from one end to permit slack in the fence to facilitate removal from the individual posts. It is to be noted that by reason of the alignment of the tongues in each of the several pairs thereof, the line wires may slide across these tongues individually without tending to pull the post therealong. Likewise the post itself, should it be struck by some implement tending to push it along the fence, will resist leaning therealong by reason of the oppositely opposed tongues in respect to the various pairs. For example, shouldthe post Ill be tended. to be pushed to the left by its top end to rock it in the ground, the tongue 20 would bear down against the wire 34 from the top side and the tongue 2| will bear upwardly thereagainst from the under side and so on throughout the alternate pairs of tongues tending to resist that movement of the post. The alternate pairs of tongues would resist shifting of the post angularly in the right-hand direction. As indicated, the structure lends itself very 'well to the usual mountingi of the barbed wire IS in spaced relation above the top of the woven wire fence 35. No separate fastening elements are required even for the barbed wire since it may be sprung under the tongue i4 after being placed across the tongue II.

It is therefore to be seen that I have provided a very simple structure readily lending itself to high and quick production without complicated tools, and a structure wherein there is but the one integral post without requirement of additional securing or fastening elements separate from the post. The securing tongues are spaced apart a substantial horizontal distance by being presented along each edge of the face of the post and each of the tongues has a considerable lat-- eral area providing sufllcient length of contact with the individual wires to prevent cutting or biting therein.

While I have herein shown and described my invention in the one particular form, it is obvious that structural variations may be employed without departing from the spirit of the invention and I therefore do not desire to be limited to that precise form beyond the limitations as may be imposed by the following claim.

I claim:

A metallic fencepost for detachably carrying a wire fencecomprising a substantially flat fence side face; a reinforcing-rib extending longitudinaily of the reverse side of the post and substantially centrally thereof to term a T iron; said post having a plurality of substantially rectangw lar notches therethrough, spaced apart alarm. and open from the vertical edges of said flat face, and positioned in pairs, one notch opposite the other in horizontal alignment as to top and bottom margins; and a substantially rectangular metal tongue extending diagonally upwardly and outwardly in fixed position from said flat face from the lower marginal edge 01' each 0f the said notches along one or said post edges; and a like tongue extending diagonally downwardly and outwardly in fixed position from said flat face from the upper marginal edge of each of the said notches along the other edge or said post; said notches and said tongue being so dimensioned that a line wire of said fence may bear against said flat lace and may rest over and be in sliding contact with an upturned tongue at one side 01' the post and under and in sliding contact with a downturned tongue on the other side of the post, a post marginal edge opening being provided by said notches under each or said tongues.

ELZA C. BARNES. 

